History of El Salvador
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Before the Spanish conquest, the area that now is El Salvador was composed of three great indigenous states and several principalities. The indigenous inhabitants were the Pipils, a tribe of the nomadic people of Nahua settled down for a long time in central Mexico. The region of the east was populated and governed by the Lencas. The North zone of the Lempa river was populated and governed by Mayan the Chortis.
Early in their history, the Pipil became one of the few Mesoamerican indigenous groups to abolish human sacrifice. Otherwise, their culture was similar to that of their Aztec and Maya neighbors. Remains of Nahua culture are still found at ruins such as Tazumal (near Chalchuapa), San Andrés, and Joya de Cerén (north of Colón).
The first Spanish attempt to subjugate this area failed in 1524, when Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil warriors. In 1525, he returned and succeeded in bringing the district under control of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which retained its authority until 1821, despite an abortive revolution in 1811. It was Alvarado who named the district for El Salvador ("The Savior.")
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[edit] Independence
The first "shout of independence" in El Salvador came in 1821, at the hands of criollo elite. Many intellectuals and merchants had grown tired of the overpowering control that Spain still had in the American colonies, and were interested in expanding their export markets to Britain and the United States. The Indigenous uprisings aimed at Spanish subjugation plagued the territory at this time, and they were re-interpreted by the Republicans to serve their purpose and show popular support for independence. Thus a movement grew amongst the middle class criollo and mestizo classes. Ultimately, the 1811 declaration of independence failed when the vice royalty of Guatemala sent troops to San Salvador in order to crush the movement. The momentum was not lost however, and many of the people involved in the 1811 movement became involved in the 1821 movement.
In 1821, El Salvador and the other Central American provinces declared their independence from Spain. When these provinces were joined with Mexico in early 1822, El Salvador resisted, insisting on autonomy for the Central American countries. Guatemalan troops sent to enforce the union were driven out of El Salvador in June 1822. El Salvador, fearing incorporation into Mexico, petitioned the United States Government for statehood. But in 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Agustín de Iturbide, and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American provinces to decide their own fate. That year, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American states under Gen. Manuel José Arce.
In 1832, Anastasio Aquino led an indigenous revolt against creoles and mestizos in Santiago Nonualco, a small town in the province of San Vicente. The source of the discontent of the indigenous people was lack of land to cultivate. The problem of land distribution has been the source of many political conflicts in Salvadoran history.
The Central American federation was dissolved in 1838 and El Salvador became an independent republic.
El Salvador in its early history was impenetrably localized, aided by its geography, its unbridged rivers that could only be crossed at fords and its lack of any linking highway that could take wheeled vehicles. The first highway for wheeled traffic was begun in 1855. Thus the "Fourteen Families" (actually many dozens of families) that have controlled El Salvador's history were all but independent territorial magnates. Through the nineteenth century, the much-amended (1859, 1864, 1871, 1872, 1880, 1883, 1886) constitution of 1824 provided for a unicameral legislature of 70 deputies, in which 42 seats (a majority) was set aside for the landowners (3 representing each of the 14 departments), technically chosen by the popular vote. Each departmental governor however, was appointed by the president. The system was easily manipulated. During the later nineteenth century, smaller landholdings, and traditional communal holdings that predated written deeds, were absorbed into the coffee plantations (fincas). The great majority of Salvadorans were landless.
El Salvador's early history as an independent state—as with others in Central America—was marked by frequent revolutions; not until the period 1900-30 was relative stability achieved. The economic elite, based on agriculture and some mining, ruled the country in conjunction with the military, and the power structure remained in the control of the "Fourteen Families" of wealthy landowners. The economy, based on coffee-growing after the mid-19th century, as the world market for indigo withered away, prospered or suffered as the world coffee price fluctuated. From 1931—the year of the coup in which Gen. Maximiliano Hernández Martínez came to power until he was deposed in 1944 there was brutal suppression of rural resistance. The most notable event was the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising, commonly referred to as La Matanza (the massacre), headed by Farabundo Martí and the retaliation led by Martinez's government, in which approximately 30,000 indigenous people and political opponents were murdered, imprisoned or exiled. Until 1980, all but one Salvadoran temporary president was an army officer. Periodic presidential elections were seldom free or fair.
From the 1930s to the 1970s, authoritarian governments employed political repression and limited reform to maintain power, despite the trappings of democracy. The National Conciliation Party was in power from the early 1960s until 1979. Fidel Sánchez Hernández was president from 1967 to 1972. In July 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras in the short Football War. During the 1970s, the political situation began to unravel. In the 1972 presidential election, the opponents of military rule united under José Napoleón Duarte, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). Amid widespread fraud, Duarte's broad-based reform movement was defeated. Subsequent protests and an attempted coup were crushed and Duarte exiled. These events eroded hope of reform through democratic means and persuaded those opposed to the government that armed insurrection was the only way to achieve change. As a consequence, violent leftist groups capitalizing upon social discontent gained strength.
[edit] Salvadoran Civil War
In 1979 the reformist Revolutionary Government Junta took power. Both the extreme right and the extreme left now disagreed with the government and increased political violence quickly turned into a civil war. The initially poorly trained Salvadoran Armed Forces (ESAF) also engaged in repression and indiscriminate killings, the most notorious of which was the El Mozote massacre in December 1981. The United States supported the government and Cuba and other Communist states the insurgents now organized as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). A peace agreement marked the end of the war and FMLN became one of the major political parties.
[edit] El Salvador since 1992
El Salvador is struggling to cope with growing gang violence, perpetrated by groups such as Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang. The violence is exacerbated by ongoing social unrest, economic devastation from the civil war, the breakdown of families and social structures, and the presence of refugees turned gang members from the United States who came home or were deported to El Salvador after 1996.
Agriculture was one of the sectors of the economy that was most affected by the civil war. Therefore, one of the biggest social problems in post-war El Salvador has been rural unemployment. This has been the explanation for increased migration to the cities and to other countries, especially the United States. Unofficial estimates say that the United States is the home of around 2 million Salvadorians.
The ARENA governments that have been in presidency since 1989 have implemented a program of policies of liberalization of the labor, goods and financial markets. In a context of unprotected markets, El Salvador's economic development has therefore relied on the income provided by exports. Since the international coffee prices fluctuate so much, ARENA governments have regarded them unreliable. Because of this, they have tried to implement economic policies that stimulate the growth of non-traditional exports. The most important of these policies are measures that favor foreign investment in "maquilas", which are tax-free industrial complexes for companies from abroad that outsource their production activities, in order to take advantage of cheap labor force. However, the foreign currency coming into the Salvadoran economy has not been able to keep up with the value of the goods imported by Salvadorans, which has implied a growing deficit in the trade balance. The only thing that has kept the Salvadoran economy in balance is the growing transfers received by Salvadorans from their family members living abroad, especially in the United States. American dollars became legal tender in El Salvador and the accounting unit of the financial sector in January 2001.
[edit] Human rights and post-war reforms
During the 12-year civil war, human rights violations by both the government security forces and left-wing guerrillas were rampant. The accords established a Truth Commission under United Nations auspices to investigate the most serious cases. The commission reported its findings in 1993. It recommended that those identified as human rights violators be removed from all government and military posts, as well as recommending judicial reforms. Thereafter, the Legislative Assembly granted amnesty for political crimes committed during the war. Among those freed as a result were the El Salvador Armed Forces (ESAF) officers convicted in the November 1989 Jesuit murders and the FMLN ex-combatants held for the 1991 murders of two U.S. servicemen. The peace accords also established the Ad Hoc Commission to evaluate the human rights record of the ESAF officer corps.
In accordance with the peace agreements, the constitution was amended to prohibit the military from playing an internal security role except under extraordinary circumstances. Demobilization of Salvadoran military forces generally proceeded on schedule throughout the process. The Treasury Police, National Guard, and National Police were abolished, and military intelligence functions were transferred to civilian control. By 1993—9 months ahead of schedule—the military had cut personnel from a war-time high of 63,000 to the level of 32,000 required by the peace accords. By 1999, ESAF strength stood at less than 15,000, including uniformed and non uniformed personnel, consisting of personnel in the army, navy, and air force. A purge of military officers accused of human rights abuses and corruption was completed in 1993 in compliance with the Ad Hoc Commission's recommendations. The military's new doctrine, professionalism, and complete withdrawal from political and economic affairs leave it the most respected institution in El Salvador.
More than 35,000 eligible beneficiaries from among the former guerrillas and soldiers who fought the war received land under the peace accord-mandated land transfer program, which ended in January 1997. The majority of them also have received agricultural credits. The international community, the Salvadoran Government, the former rebels, and the various financial institutions involved in the process continue to work closely together to deal with follow-on issues resulting from the program.
Despite the official abolition of the National Guard and overall reduction in the Salvadoran military after the 1992 Peace Accords, human rights abuses associated with the Guard and the military during the 1980s have continued. Union activists have been targeted with harassment, violence and imprisonment. Some, such as Gilberto Soto, the former leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have been murdered. Others have been disappeared. Salvadoran activists working against CAFTA, the abuse of prisoners, the privatization of water, and environmental destruction have all encountered various forms of repression.
[edit] National Civilian Police
The civilian police force, created to replace the discredited public security forces, deployed its first officers in March 1993, and was present throughout the country by the end of 1994. The National Civilian Police (PNC) has about 16,500 officers. The United States, through the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), led international support for the PNC and the National Public Security Academy (ANSP), providing about $32 million in non-lethal equipment and training since 1992.
[edit] Judiciary
Both the Truth Commission and the Joint Group identified weaknesses in the judiciary and recommended solutions, the most dramatic being the replacement of all the magistrates on the Supreme Court. This recommendation was fulfilled in 1994 when an entirely new court was elected, but weaknesses remain. The process of replacing incompetent judges in the lower courts, and of strengthening the attorney generals' and public defender's offices, has moved more slowly. The government continues to work in all of these areas with the help of international donors, including the United States. Action on peace accord-driven constitutional reforms designed to improve the administration of justice was largely completed in 1996 with legislative approval of several amendments and the revision of the Criminal Procedure Code—with broad political consensus.
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Anderson, Thomas P., Matanza ; El Salvador's communist revolt of 1932, Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Pr., 1971
- James S. Corum: Der Bürgerkrieg in El Salvador 1980-1992. In: Bernd Greiner /Christian Th. Müller / Dierk Walter (Hrsg.): Heiße Kriege im Kalten Krieg. Hamburg, 2006, ISBN 3-936096-61-9, S. 315-338. (Review by H. Hoff, Review by I. Küpeli)
- Grenier, Yvon , The Emergence of Insurgency in El Salvador: Ideology and Political Will, University of Pittsburgh Press 1999
- Hammond, John L. , Fighting to Learn: Popular Education and Guerrilla War in El Salvador, Rutgers University Press 1998
- Aldo Lauria-Santiago (Herausgeber), Leigh Binford (Herausgeber), Landscapes of Struggle: Politics, Society, and Community in El Salvador: Politics, Society and Community in El Salvador, University of Pittsburgh Press 2004
- Michael Krämer, El Salvador. Vom Krieg zum Frieden niedriger Intensität, Zweite Auflage, Neuer ISP-Verlag 1996
- Julie D. Shayne, The Revolution Question: Feminisms in El Salvador, Chile, and Cuba, Rutgers University Press 2004
- Stanley, William, The Protection Racket State: Elite Politics, Military Extortion, and Civil War in El Salvador, Temple University Press 1996
- Jan Suter, Prosperität und Krise in einer Kaffeerepublik. Modernisierung, sozialer Wandel und politischer Umbruch in El Salvador, 1910-1945, Vervuert 1996
- Tilley, Virginia Q., Seeing Indians: A Study of Race, Nation, and Power in El Salvador, University of New Mexico Press 2005
- Elisabeth J. Wood (Herausgeber), Peter Lange (Herausgeber), Robert H. Bates (Herausgeber), Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador, Cambridge University Press 2003
- Heidrun Zinecker, El Salvador nach dem Bürgerkrieg. Ambivalenzen eines schwierigen Friedens Campus 2004, ISBN 3593374595
[edit] See also
- History of the west coast of North America
- United States-Latin American relations
- Salvadoran Civil War
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